Case Study on the nature vs nurture debate

Case Study on the nature vs nurture debate Is a childs development influenced by genetics or could the majority of influence be found in the childs environment? The nature vs. nurture debate has been at the forefront of psychology for many decades. The purpose of this essay is to try and answer this question using the case study of Genie. The essay shall also look at some of the roles that a multidisciplinary team would play in a case like Genies and if there was any hope of rehabilitation. The big question that had to be answered is whether or not it was too late for her to develop into a normal adult. Lenneberg (1957) (cited in Hayes, 1998) asserted that the critical period, in development for children is before puberty and if a child had not learnt how to speak, they would never pass the 2-3 word telegraphic stage. Lenneberg felt that after the critical stage has passed language would not be achieved normally after puberty. Chomsky (1957) (cited in Cardwell et al, 2010) stated that all human language has the same basic rules when it comes to grammar and structure. For most individuals development of language comes naturally as they grow. According to Chomsky (cited in Hayes, 1998), language is foremost a product of the brain and children have an innate acquisition device. The Chomskyan view supports the nature theory as he believed that infants are born with an idea of how language works and this inborn knowledge must be activated through exposure to language at the appropriate time. It is commonly known that behaviour is affected by consequences. Skinners (1935) (cited in Cardwell 1996) theory of operant conditioning states that the process does not require repeated efforts but an immediate reaction to a familiar stimulus. In the case of Genie, she was raised in isolation where she spent most of her childhood locked up in a bedroom. It is argued that her lack of language was due to the physical abuse from her father when she made a noise. It is noted that her father never spoke to her even when beating her. He was said to have barked and growled at her like a dog. In the following months after her discovery Genies mother reported that just after Genies isolation that she heard her saying words (Pines, 1997). This would show that Genie was on course to learn language. This would prove the theory of Chomsky, but would be against Lenneberg as he had theorised that the brain of a child before the age of two has not matured enough for the acquisition of language (Pines, 1997). However, throughout her life Genie failed to learn the grammar and sentence structure that according to Chomsky separates the language of human beings from other species. This could prove that she had passed the critical period for la nguage acquisition. With her history of operant conditioning, it can be argued that the behaviourist approach would be the best way to rehabilitate Genie. This would mean that the team dealing with Genie would have to change the consequences of an action. If Genie had been in the care of a modern day multidisciplinary team she would have been referred to several specialists. It can be assumed that Genie had expressive and receptive  language disorders due to her isolation. It is possible that part of her language issue may have related to the fact that her oral muscles had not developed enough for her to produce the correct sounds. During her years of isolation Genie was fed on baby food and soft foods. It has been documented that she would leave food in her mouth until the enzymes in her saliva started to digest the food (Pines, 1997). Genie would receive one to one attention from a speech and language therapist to try and overcome her speech and feeding difficulties. Language intervention activities would be effective with Genie as the therapist would interact and built a therapeutic relationship by appropriately playing and talking with her. The therapist would demonstrate how sounds are made and how to move the tongue to make certain sounds and use a variety of exercises to strengthen the muscles of the mouth. Genie could be sent to an occupational therapist (OT) in order to assess her needs and develop a care intervention plan. OTs believe that behaviour is learned and that poor or non advantageous behaviours can be unlearned and replaced by lasting habits (Turner et al). The OT could design a program for Genie that incorporates social skill training, anxiety management and behaviour modification. The use of the Canadian Occupational Performance Measure (COPM) (appendix 1) would measure Genies progress and ensure that a humanistic approach is taken regarding her care and rehabilitation. The COPM put Genie at the centre of her care plan and seeks to help her find meaning to her life in her everyday activities. As the months progressed Genie showed numerous breakthroughs. One such break through was noticed when Dr James Kent left Genie and she showed a change of facial expression. Genie had treated everyone the same and showed no emotional reaction to anyone or anything, however Dr Kent noticed her expression changed from happy to sad. She had always shown the ability to explore her environment but had never shown emotion. This showed that she could develop emotional attachments therefore she was able to learn. Bowlby (1969, 1973) (cited in Cardwell et al, 1996) stated that the importance of emotional attachment to a caregiver ensures that the child will be fed, protected from harm and educated. There is evidence to say that an infants need to form attachments is innate. This would also suggest that the parent also has an innate tendency to form attachments with their children. From an evolutionary point of view it is in the mothers best interest to see her children grow up and produce chil dren of their own. Through research, Klaus and Kennel (1976) (cited in psychology4a.com) found that mothers that were allowed constant contact with their newborn babies developed stronger bonds that mothers that only had contact for feeding. This has lead to the skin to skin hypothesis that has been implemented in hospitals. Fathers are also encouraged to be present at the birth to develop an early attachment. In the case of Genie little is known about her birth, however since she was born pre 1976 it is assumed that the father was not present at the birth and that mother and child were separated soon after the birthing process. This could have played a part in the inability to form an emotional attachment to Genie that lead to her years of abuse. David Rigler had advised that he felt that it was important for Genie to develop strong emotional attachments as part of her development. David Rigler and his wife Marilyn ended up fostering Genie. The Riglers took on the roles of Genies t herapy, teacher, principle investigator, and foster parents. While living with the Riglers Genie showed improvements in her therapy sessions. This could be due to her being in a nurturing environment were she was praised for making progress. This theory on learning is support by behaviourists Skinner (1957) (cited in Hayes, 1998) and Thorndyke (1911) (cited in Cardwell, 1996), who saw learning as happening mainly through the law of (positive) effect. This was demonstrated in the Skinner box experiment (Cardwell, 1996), which rewarded rats with food for a positive action. Initially the trap animal would demonstrate escape seeking behaviour; however one of the actions would provide the subject with a food reinforcer. This would result in the subject changing its behaviour to seek the reward. So in Genies case, every time she received praise for a positive action, she was more likely to repeat the action. While Genie was in isolation, her physiological needs were not completely met. According to Maslows (1954) (cited in Turner, 2007) hierarchy of needs (appendix 2), there are two sets of human needs. One set concerns basic survival needs such as physiological and basic safety needs. The other set concerns self-actualisation, the realisation of an individuals full potential as shown in creativity and the use of intellect. Since her physiological needs were not met Maslows theory states that she would not have been able to ascend the hierarchy and begin to satisfy her creative and intellectual drives. Dr. J. Shirley the psychiatrist, wanted to determine her mental capabilities. The sleep test that was carried out showed Genie had patterns that indicated mental retardation. It is not known if Genie was born this way or if the severe neglect contributed in her mental health. It is documented that at 14 months, Genie was diagnosed as being mentally retarded. It can be argued that Genie was not born mentally retarded but was handicapped due to lack of normal childhood development during her early years. Further test results showed that Genie did not display any left brain activity because it appeared not to have developed during her pre-pubescent years. The left part of the brain is the area that is responsible for language acquisition and development. Psychological tests showed that her mental age increased by one year, every year since her discovery. This is not characteristic of mental retardation. It can be argued that because the critical stage was missed, the biological ability for the brain to fully develop was therefore impaired. There are several flaws in the nature versus nurture debate. The flaw in the use of Skinners rats is that breeding within a family, as rats do, is known to cause genetic problems that can impair intelligence. There is also the question relating to Genies mental retardation. If she was born retarded then her ability to develop at the relevant critical periods was impaired from birth by nature. In Genies case it can be argued that nurture seemed to play a greater role than nature. She suffered from an environment were she was not nurtured positively. Most present day researchers agree that human traits are determined by both nature and nurture. They may disagree on which part has the greater influence.

Increase in Customer Influence on Businesses Essay -- Business, Logist

Increase in Customer Influence on Businesses and its Resultant Effect on Workers and Managers Introduction So many factors have come together to make today’s business environment very competitive and flexible at the same time. Customers now play a significant role in the production and delivery of both goods and services in the global market. Globalization has also made it possible for comparisons to take place between and amongst different markets, giving the customers knowledge (power) to make choices and demanding more value for their money. This stance of the customer goes a long way to determine the performance of organizations; this is because without the existence of customers to patronize the goods and/or services offered by businesses, there will be no need for these businesses to exist. Customer influence on businesses More often than not, studies have examined the relationship behaviour between businesses and their customers from the business perspective with little or no attention to the customers’ perspective. As stated by Keillor et al (1999), for businesses to succeed in a highly competitive market environment, they must fundamentally understand and satisfy customer needs. Heskett et al (1993, 2003) as sited by Maxham J.G et al (2008) posited that the profit and revenue growth of an organization are a function of customer loyalty which stems from customer satisfaction. The key demands from customers as stated by Heskett and his colleagues are high quality goods/services and satisfactions. For customers to remain loyal to an organization, they must experience good value for their money and satisfaction. Akin to the performance and productivity level of an organization is the performance of the manager... ...ple Resourcing: contemporary HRM in practice. 4th ed. London: Prentice Hall International Shenkar, O. & Luo, Y. (2007) International business. 2nd ed. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications Wu C.H et al (2008) Structural relationships among organization service orientation, employee service performance and consumer identification; the service industry journal vol 28(9) available from: http://ehis.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.liv.ac.uk/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=04c840d7-ec91-4485-bb27-258e51dc1864%40sessionmgr111&vid=1&hid=116 Maxham J.G et al (2008) The Retail Value Chain: linking employee perceptions to employee performance, customer evaluations and store performance. Marketing science journal, vol 27 (2) available from: http://ehis.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.liv.ac.uk/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=e3d4fad3-61ea-4147-8854-dac1e71b41bf%40sessionmgr111&vid=1&hid=116

Battered wives

To determine the amount and types of violence in U. S. homes, sociologists have interviewed nationally representative samples of U. S. couples (Straus, 1992). Although not all sociologists agree, Murray Straus concludes that husbands and wives are about equally likely to attack one another. When it comes to the effects of violence, however, gender equality certainly vanishes. As Straus points out, even though she may throw the coffeepot first, it is generally he who lands the last and most damaging blow.Consequently, many more wives than husbands seek medical attention because of marital violence. A good part of the reason, of course, is that most husbands are bigger and stronger than their wives, putting women at a disadvantage in this literal battle of the sexes. Violence against women is related to the sexist structure of society and to socialization. Growing up with norms that encourage aggression and the use of violence, many men feel it is their right to control women.When frus trated in a relationship or even by causes outside it, many men turn violently on their wives and lovers. The basic question is how to socialize males to handle frustration and disagreements without resorting to violence and this has not been answered yet. This paper will be discussing battered women and battered women syndrome in relationship to crime and deterrence. Battering of Women: The characteristics of assaulting a spouse or love suggest low deterrability. The behavior appears to be irrational, expressive, quite violent and likely to take place in private.It is often pointed out that the act historically has been culturally condoned and arguably continues so to some degree. Given a theoretical framework generally suggesting low deterrability, the outcome of the Minneapolis Domestic Violence experiment (Sherman & Berk, 1984) was quite surprising. The design of this important study provided for random assignment of three police responses to cases of misdemeanor domestic assaul t, the arrest of the offender, separation of the parties and some sort of advice, including mediation.Police officers responding to domestic violence calls were instructed to intervene as dictated by the color of the form appearing at the top of the report pad. Cases were then followed for six months to determine if the assaulter’s recidivated, as measured by additional reports to the police and periodic interviews with the victims. The lowest rate of repeat assaults, 13% was obtained when the offenders had been arrested, a middle level, 18. 2% followed advice or mediation, while the highest incidence of new assaults came after separation.The researchers concluded that â€Å"swift imposition of a sanction of temporary incarceration may deter male offenders in domestic assault cases†¦In short; criminal justice sanctions seem to matter for this offense in this setting with this group of experienced offenders† (Sherman & Berk, 1984, p. 270). Special deterrence was th ought to be operating even for this theoretically unpromising type of crime. The Minneapolis study, in combination with feminist activism and civil suits seeking equal protection of the laws for battered women had an unprecedented impact on police policy.Arrest became the preferred policy for misdemeanor domestic assault cases in most large U. S. police departments and remains the norm. Arrests of men who had committed misdemeanor assaults against their partners moved from a rarity in 1984 when the study was reported to the typical response well before the close of the decade. Ironically the changes in law have also led to dramatic increases in arrests of women, and have created a sense of ambivalence among some feminist criminologists (Chesney-Lind, 2002).While the impact of the Minneapolis experiment, combined with other social forces, was rapid and substantial, a series of six replication studies reflected the complexity of the concept of deterrence. Lively debate was stimulated because the conclusions of the evaluators of these six studies were quite divergent. While some found special deterrent effects of arrest, albeit weaker, others did not. Still others found that arrest increased recidivism among marginal offenders, those who may have felt they had nothing to lose.In Milwaukee, for example, unemployed suspects were more likely to assault their partners again if arrested (Sherman, Schmidt, Rogan, Smith, Gartin, Cohn, Collins & Bacich, 1992). The evidence for deterring the crime of misdemeanor assaults of women in domestic settings is mixed and complex. The consensus seems to be that there is some special deterrent effect, varying by characteristics of the offender. Unfortunately, differences in deterrability by persons, even when clearly understood, complicate the task of policy development.If arrest deters some assaulters, but escalates the violence of others, police policy for responding to these crimes becomes far more difficult to formulate. Policy changes in the area of police responses to woman battering have been one of the most dramatic within criminal justice in recent decades. The policy directive of most U. S. police departments has shifted from one of arrest avoidance for misdemeanor assault of intimate partners, to a presumptive arrest standard. In other words, rather than having to justify an arrest as exceptional, an officer must defend a non-arrest decision when a woman is the victim of a minor assault.The public opinion for these changes is mixed (Brown, 1990). Battered Woman Syndrome: Women who are victims of violence from husbands and live-in male companions increasingly are being brought within the scope of criminological study. Earlier such events were regarded by the male-dominated realm of law enforcement and the equally male-dominated real of social science as private affairs, best left in the shadows. There was a wild myth that women enjoyed being hit, interpreting it as attention, and therefore a sign of caring. Some victims who are beaten may respond with seeming indifference.Women who are beaten, particularly lower-class women may not see themselves as real victims, but merely as suffering the usual lot of a woman. The problem of wife beating did not command the public attention it now receives because of startling increases in such violence, but rather because of a shift in public sentiment. By capitalizing on the expansionist interests in the social work, mental health, and legal professions, and offering a good subject for the media, special interest groups convinced people that there was a problem demanding attention.Hundreds of shelters for battered women that provided an alternative to remaining with abusive males soon were opening (Walker, 2000). Today the battered woman syndrome sometimes is successfully introduced into criminal trials to excuse a woman who killed her husband after being subjected to intense abuse over a considerable period of time. Many men take exceptio n to such acquittals, insisting that the use of lethal force is a disproportionate response; after all assault is not a capital offense. They also may argue that the women could have departed rather than killed.Many women take strong exception to this male position. They insist that the victims of domestic violence lose their self-respect, their judgment, and that they retaliate out of desperation (Chan, 2001). In the past few years, considerable national attention has been given to the issue of how to handle persons who kill spouses or loves, who abuse them. In some states women convicted of killing their husbands after years of abuse have been granted clemency and released from prison. Jurisdictions have differed in their treatment of the battered women syndrome defense.Some courts have refused to admit evidence of the syndrome. Others have admitted it for limited purposes, such as to show the inability of a woman to assist her attorney in her defense (Walker, 2000). Conclusion: I t has been estimated that over 1. 5 million wives in this country are severely beaten by their husbands annually (Strauss, 1992), and such figures may underestimate the number of actual cases. Women in cohabiting relationships are even more likely than wives to be battered, although the reasons for this are not at all clear.Sympathy for battered women may be difficult to come by in light of widespread tendencies to blame the victim for staying with, going back to, or not walking out on an abusive husband or lover. Years of exploration have addressed the question of why abused women stay with abusers. Proposed explanations, none of them entirely satisfactory, have included reference to the victims economic dependency, the victims tendencies to place blame on themselves, not the batterers and a vicious circle of abuse leading to lowered self-esteem on the part of the victim, which in turn leads to greater abuse.But because there is a strong tendency for domestic violence to recur and in some cases to become progressively more severe over time victims must be strongly encouraged to seek professional and or legal assistance at the very first sign that their spouses or lovers are batterers and this is despite any promises, protests, excuses, apologies or vows never to do it again on the part of the batterers. Reference: Brown, S. E. (1990). â€Å"Police responses to wife beating: Five years later†.Journal of Criminal Justice,18, 459-462. Chan, W. (2001). Women, Murder, and Justice. New York: Palgrave. Chesney-Lind, M. (2002). â€Å"Criminalizing victimization: The unintended consequences of pro-arrest polices for girls and women†. Criminology & Public Policy, 1, 81- 90. Sherman , L. W. & Burk, R. A. (1984). â€Å" The specific deterrent effects of arrest for domestic assault†. American Sociological Review, 49, 261-272. Sherman, L. W. , Schmidt, J. D. , Rogan, D.P. , Smith, D. A. , Gartin, P. R. , Cohn, E. G. , Collins, D. J. & Bacich, A. R. (19 92). â€Å"The variable effects of arrest on criminal careers: The Milwaukee Domestic Violence Experiment†. Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology, 83, 170-200. Strauss, M. A. (1992). â€Å"Explaining family violence†. In Marriage and Family in a Changing Society, 4th. Ed. New York: Free Press, 344-356. Walker, L. E. A. (2000). The Battered Women Syndrome, 2nd. Ed. New York: Springer

Business Ethics and Law Documents Free Essay Example, 750 words

Law and ethics are some of the significant external environmental factors in the corporate sector. Intensive competition in the sector may induce unfair practices against competitors but the legal and moral environment exerts pressure to ensure that parties compete fairly. This paper considers the case of competition between APEX and Computer Solutions and argues that APEX, through its representative, should restrain from any act that could undermine Computer Solutions competitiveness, unfairly. The case identifies Alex Franklin, project manager for APEX, a client and Computer Solutions that is APEX s strongest competitor. The two companies are interested in a contract with First Street Bank and Alex sees success in winning a contract with the bank as an opportunity for his promotion while the bank s vice president seems to favor APEX for the contract. The bidding deadline is almost and the vice president calls Alex and his team and leaves him with a folder labeled Computer Solutio ns. The moral dilemma is Alex s possible action with the competitor s envelop that the vice president has given him (Wicks, Freeman, Werhane and Martin, 2009). Kant s ethical theory offers one of the bases for analyzing the case. We will write a custom essay sample on Business Ethics and Law Documents or any topic specifically for you Only $17.96 $11.86/page Another imperative that Kant offers is the criticism against treating people as means to a person's end and the case identifies promotion as Alex's core objective into the bid. Taking advantage of a person s weakness is an example.